During a discussion on Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s New Day about whether the Trump administration should publicly apologize for the comment made by White House aide Kelly Sadler that Senator John McCain is dying of cancer, a clash arose between faux Republican and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro and Women Vote Trump co-chair Amy Kremer.
“We are all dying,” Navarro stated before adding that “[t]he White House is irritated” that the Arizona Republican “is not dying of cancer; he’s living with cancer” by “confronting Donald Trump for his outrages.”
The tone for the debate was set by the chyron across the bottom of the screen, which read: “White House Refuses to Apologize for ‘Dying’ Joke.”
During the segment, Navarro said: “I’m dying; we are all dying. We just don’t know when.” She continued:
I think, frankly, what’s happening here is that the White House is irritated John McCain is not dying of cancer. He’s living with cancer. And he is choosing to make every single day on this earth something that’s meaningful and counts. And he is still confronting Donald Trump for his outrages. He is still speaking conscience and conviction and principle.
The commentator then asserted: “He is reminding Republicans what we used to be” and claimed that “on this torture issue,” the GOP senator “speaks with a moral certitude that few can; that of a man that was actually tortured for years.”
Navarro also slammed McCain’s critics, who are saying things even when "you know how hurtful it is to the family,” which is “something that I don’t understand, but well, you know, we all have the First Amendment right.”
“I do think that the White House should have apologized because I think there’s a lot of people who’ve lost friends, loved ones to cancer who are living today with people who have terminal illnesses, and you know, it’s hurtful, it’s offensive.”
After a few moments of crosstalk, the Trump supporter replied: “[A]s somebody whose father is suffering with liver cancer right now, I understand. I can imagine what this family thinks.”
“What matters is that she gave a heartfelt apology to the family,” Kremer stated. “I think the whole thing should be dropped. … I don’t know why the press is in such a frenzy over it. Just let it go.”
“I understand,” co-host Alisyn Camerota remarked, “but do you think that would have gone away if on the first or second day, she’d have apologized publicly?”
“I don’t know,” Kremer noted. “If somebody doesn’t want to apologize, why would you want to force them to apologize? Don’t tell me you’re sorry if you truly don’t mean it.”
“If it’s not genuine, yeah,” Camerota stated before tossing a softball question to Navarro: “What does make this go away? … Is this tone OK in the White House?”
“I don’t know that it goes away because it seems that it goes away momentarily, and then it comes back,” the commentator responded before attacking the president.
“Part of the reason that they really can’t apologize is because Donald Trump has done much of the same,” she asserted. “Donald Trump has been attacking John McCain with cancer, without cancer.”
The Arizona Republican “served this country from the age of 17,” Navarro continued. “He is a national hero who Donald Trump has been attacking and calling a loser and saying he doesn’t like him and he was only a hero because he was captured.”
“So why can’t they apologize?” she asked. “Because then Donald Trump would have to apologize.”
It’s interesting how many people in the mainstream media have become fans of John McCain again (when they weren't in 2008) now that they've decided that they can support him when they’re also criticizing the GOP occupant of the White House.
